The present invention relates in general to shipping or storage containers for securing and protecting non-uniformly shaped articles during shipment and in particular, to an article stabilizing container apparatus for keeping such articles sealed and protected during transportation by enveloping and restraining non-uniformly shaped articles therewithin.
Shippers of articles need to ensure that a shipped article will arrive at its destination in a safe and secure manner. A broken or dented article is often of little use to the recipient-and substantially increases costs. If the damage to the article has occurred during shipping, the shipper will typically be responsible for the damage.
In order to protect the article during shipping, shippers often utilize shipping materials that absorb the shocks to the packing carton that the article is shipped in. To ideally absorb such shocks to the packing carton, the article is preferably positioned in the center of the carton--to minimize contact between the article and the exterior walls of the shipping carton.
To obtain this positioning of the article within the shipping carton, shippers have utilized many different devices. A common technique has involved the use of polystyrene plastic or paper material known as "popcorn" or "filler". Shippers often fill a carton with a layer of this popcorn and then place the article within the carton. They then fill the remaining space within the carton so as to have the article surrounded by the popcorn. Due to the shock absorbing nature of the polystyrene plastic popcorn, sharp shocks or bumps to the carton are substantially absorbed by the popcorn and not transmitted to the article. While adequate for the purpose, the use of such popcorn or filler presents some problems. In application, for example, the popcorn may easily shift and therefore there is little guarantee that the article will remain fully encircled by the popcorn to maintain little contact with the external walls of the carton itself. Where the orientation of the article itself may shift during shipping and/or storage, more fragile portions of a non-uniformly shaped object may be prone to damage, or cause puncture or tearing of the box, with loss of contents.
An alternative way that shippers achieve shock absorption is through the use pre-shaped polystyrene plastic blocks positioned within the carton in such a way so that the article is restrained from moving within the carton. The foam blocks can be reconfigured for each differently shaped article, or, as known for electronic components, may be shaped to fully enclose the article. However, the effort needed and utilized to position and restrain either a pair of mated fully enclosing foam blocks or a number of smaller, spacer blocks into the appropriate position can raise the cost of shipping and packing substantially. This is especially true of pre-shaped enclosing styrofoam which is specifically shaped to accept a particularly shaped article--requiring inventorying of a number of styrofoam shapes. Additionally, unlike popcorn filler, the smaller polystyrene blocks do not guarantee a full enclosure of all sides of the article so that it is possible that a shock could be applied from a direction which a block will not absorb.
With the current trend towards recyclability and the use of biodegradable products, polystyrene plastic or styrofoam products has been greatly discouraged. In some communities, the use of non-biodegradable products have been banned altogether making it impossible for shippers utilizing such methods of shipment to conduct business within these communities.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an article stabilizing container apparatus that can be utilized on various non-uniformedly shaped articles.
It is additionally an object of the invention to form an article stabilizing container apparatus out of a minimum number of recyclable materials so that the apparatus can be brought into most communities.
It is further an object of the present invention that the apparatus be economical due to the elimination of a great number of component packaging parts and effort necessary to form the apparatus--while providing an apparatus that avoids pre-shaped plastic parts and which minimizes the number of specially shaped components which co-operate with non-uniformly shaped articles. Such an object includes the use of a changeable packaging element with a uniform outer element.
It is additionally an object of the invention to further protect and isolate articles within the apparatus so as to substantially cushion the article from external shocks and bumps during transportation of the apparatus and article, by suspending the article within the container with air pockets formed in various regions.
It is still further an object of the invention to have easy and substantially full access to the article within the apparatus upon disarticulation of the apparatus by removal of a single package confining element.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent in light of the present specification and drawings.